Louis S. Auchincloss Letter (VMF005), 1960 | MSS Manuscripts

Louis Stanton Auchincloss (September 27, 1917 – January 26, 2010) was an American lawyer, novelist, historian, and essayist. He is best known as a prolific novelist who parlayed his firsthand knowledge into dozens of finely wrought books exploring the private lives of America's East Coast patrician class (especially the world of Wall Street bankers, lawyers and stockbrokers). His dry, ironic works of fiction continued the tradition of Henry James and Edith Wharton.

Born in Lawrence, New York, Auchincloss was the son of Priscilla Dixon (née Stanton) and Joseph Howland Auchincloss. He attended Groton School and Yale University, where he was editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Although he did not complete his undergraduate studies at Yale, he was admitted to and attended law school at the University of Virginia. He graduated in 1941 and was admitted to the New York bar the same year.

Auchincloss was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell from 1941 to 1951 (with an interruption for war service from 1941 to 1945 in the United States Navy during World War II). After taking a break to pursue full-time writing,] Auchincloss returned to working as a lawyer, firstly as an associate (1954–58) and then as a partner (1958–86) at Hawkins, Delafield and Wood in New York City as a wills and trusts attorney, while writing at the rate of a book a year.

Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society. Among his best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents (1960), Portrait in Brownstone (1962), and East Side Story (2004). Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin (1964), the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler (1966), a look at white-collar crime.

Auchincloss died from complications of a stroke at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on January 26, 2010.

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Acquisition Note: Source: Purchased from House of Books.Accession number 1239.

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Scope and Contents: Typed letter, signed from Auchincloss to Barbara Turner, editor of Artists' and Writers' Cookbook, enclosing an unidentified favorite recipe and commenting on Turner's statement that food is a means of ethnic communication. Auchincloss explains the universality of preparing foods. 1 page.